Sunland, Paradise Creek, Upton Farms: Top-dollar rural property deals

From the Red Centre to Victoria’s Golden Plains, the rural property market is continuing to record staggering results in 2022.

Australia’s rural property market has been home to $350m-plus worth of farmland property activity after yet another extraordinary week.

Almost insatiable buyer demand paired with numerous premier farm holdings on the market has produced eye-watering numbers throughout late February.

The latest largest sales include:

A $45m-plus deal as the chair of Australia’s biggest cotton processing company, Tim Watson, sold mixed cropping and cotton farm, Sunland Agriculture Aggregation.

US investment company MERS Global Investments LLC secured the farm, adding the property to their NSW farming portfolio which includes the 32,730ha Merrowie Station at Hillston, which they bought in 2019.

The Paradise Creek station in northern NSW was also sold in a $22m-plus deal.

An Australian grazing operation, the Wilmot Cattle Company was the buyer, adding the 2575ha holding to their expanding NSW cattle station portfolio.

Upton farms.

A pair of West Wimmera neighbours also added premium land to their operations, paying a regional record price to secure Lillimur farmland.

The McCraken family sold 300ha of mixed farming property through auction with Lot 1 going under the hammer at $23,783 a hectare and Lot 2 sold for $27,382 a hectare.

More big deals are expected to follow in the coming months, with blue-ribbon farm holdings from the Red Centre to the Golden Plains in southern Victoria up for public sale.

Buyer interest has also been sparked by the listing of a staggering collection of quality farm holdings.

In NSW, two separate owners will auction 40,000ha of livestock farms in the coming weeks, which could fetch more than $100m.

The 2668ha Upton Farms cattle aggregation will be auctioned in April, with the New England properties expected to rake in between $80m and $100m.

In NSW’s western districts, 800km away from Upton Farms, six adjoining lots, totalling about 41,000ha, including the 17,000ha Wongawal Station, have hit the market as part of a major land sell-off.

A cattle and cropping operation in the NSW southern tablelands is also on the market, with the Girrakool and North Pomeroy farm expected to fetch as much as $38m.

Neutral Junction station.

In Victoria, Tyburn, a 400ha mixed cropping farm near Ballarat, has landed on the market with $12m-plus price expectations.

Elders Real Estate Victoria-Riverina manager and selling agent Nick Myers said despite the Tyburn property’s smaller size he was expecting wide buyer interest.

Some of the NT’s largest cattle stations have also hit the market, including the 700,000ha Mt Doreen cattle station, which has a $50m-plus price tag.

One of the most unique Northern Territory cattle stations has also been listed, with the 460,900ha Neutral Junction Station expected to command more than $28m.